Santa Ana de Yacuma drug trafficking raid
Santa Ana de Yacuma drug trafficking raid
A joint force of 200 UMOPAR troops and American DEA agents raided the town of Santa Ana de Yacuma using six helicopters and boats on June 22 at 4:00am. The stated purpose of the mission was to apprehend a wanted drug trafficker, Hugo Rivero Villavicencio, who was reportedly living in the city. Government forces first took control of the police headquarters and then targeted Rivero’s luxury home (Presencia 1989e). There, the troops were met with armed resistance and Rivera successfully escaped arrest (Long 1989). During the chaos, government forces also attacked townspeople who had gathered in the main square, killing 19 year old Jerjes Roca Sibler and shooting Alfredo Aarteaga Chávez, who later died during an evacuation flight (Presencia 1989a). Troops also shot civilians “Negro” Suarez, and Dr. Jorge Estivariz Justiniano (Presencia 1989c), each of whom eventually succumbed to their injuries in a Santa Cruz hospital. According to witnesses, the troops were freely firing upon unarmed civilians they encountered, although others claimed the townspeople were participants in the battle (De Grazia 1991, 54), having been armed by the traffickers (Malamoud-Goti 1990, 47). The Bolivian Navy stationed in the area had not been notified before the raid. Upon finding out that the local police force had been taken over, the Navy launched a counter-attack against the UNOPAR/DEA troops, adding to the complexity of the battle. Ensign Roger Hurtado Laza later defended this action, stating that his duty was to protect the population, who he claimed were unarmed and being massacred. He stated, “We were the ones who fired in defense of the population”. Residents testified that troops beat civilians with rifles in the streets and that some were found with their hands tied behind their backs. Two journalists stated they were harassed while observing these events by a group of raiders that included foreigners. One resident made damning recordings of the troops speaking over an open radio frequency, giving orders to kill the wounded and admitting to killing civilians (Presencia 1989e). Civic leaders of Santa Ana confirmed the murder of four people and the capture and disappearing of an unspecified number of others during the UMOPAR/DEA action (Presencia 1989c). They described the day’s events as “a Rambo-style invasion” (Presencia 1989e). The president of the Beni Civic Committee, Dr. Oscar Rivero Aramayo, later announced that he had received anonymous threats after declaring a day of departmental morning (Presencia 1989c). The FSB denounced UMOPAR and demanded a full investigation of the massacre, comparing DEA and UMOPAR actions in Beni to those of American troops in Vietnam (Presencia 1989d). The Civic Committee of Santa Cruz likewise demanded an investigation of events and called for law enforcement officers to observe the law (Presencia 1989b).